Two Years Later: How the Affordable Care Act Provides Lower Costs and Better Coverage for American Families and Seniors

For Immediate Release:

March 21, 2012

Thanks to the Affordable Care Act, 165 million Americans with private insurance and 48 million seniors and disabled Americans with Medicare are experiencing better coverage and lower, or slowed growth, in health care costs.

Democrats remain committed to protecting Medicare’s guarantee and standing against insurance company discrimination, while Republicans continue to call for – and vote for – repealing patient protections, ending the Medicare guarantee, and raising health care costs for seniors by $6,000 per year.

When it comes to healthcare, the contrasts between Democrats and Republicans could not be more clear:

Republicans, on the other hand, have voted 14 times to repeal patient protections and new health care benefits – and Republicans have voted three times for a budget that ends the Medicare guarantee and raises health care costs for seniors by over $6,000 per year. The budget they introduced yesterday doubles down on their plan to end the Medicare guarantee and repeals patient protections.

If Republicans had it their way, new benefits would be taken away from Americans now receiving them and:

Up to 4 million small businesses would lose access to $40 billion in tax credits, designed to help make health insurance more affordable for employees.

Over 48 million Medicare beneficiaries could see their drug costs increase, including the 5.1 million seniors who have already received 50% discounts on their brand name drugs.

Over 48 million Medicare beneficiaries could see cost increases for important preventative care measures and may lose access to free annual checkups.

Up to 15 million Americans who are sick or injured could be dropped from their private insurance because of a simple mistake on an application.

Over 2,800 employers would lose access to the Early Retiree Reinsurance Program, which is currently helping them provide health benefits to 13 million retirees who are not yet eligible for Medicare.